On the Russian news a man says, “A man has to know how to drive a stick shift. And for a woman, it’s OK just to drive automatic.”
This burning piece of ultra-important information was delivered at the most highly watched official news program.
I’m so glad I emigrated because Russian-speaking countries are still very uncivilized.
Clarissa's Blog 
So men are gay, but for women everything is automatic?
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Wow–they must have some interesting automotive technology in Russia. I want to see one of those cars with a penis-operated clutch.
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If you see some, ask if their cars come with the expanded keyhole extra!
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I believe that anyone with a disability which leaves them without two functional legs should be permitted to own and drive an automatic. For all others, driving an automatic should be a crime. Not a felony, but punishable by, say, thirty days in jail or a thousand dollar fine.
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Why?? Is there anything especially wrong with automatic?
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They use more fuel, they promote sloppy and inattentive driving, and in some dangerous situations stick shift cars are far safer. For example, if an accelerator gets stuck, which happens rarely, but often enough to be dangerous, you need only push in the clutch. Another example, if you have a catastrophic brake failure, it is possible to slow down and stop by downshifting and repeatedly letting out the clutch, or, in extreme cases, turning off the engine. (I have had a total brake failure twice in 53 years of driving. This probably is the reason I am still alive.)
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Wether or not automatic or manual is more fuel efficient is really more up to the driver. Truth is that a proficient driver with a manual transmission can drop the mileage* you get out of a gallon below that of a car with an automatic transmission. But only if you drive like your grandma on her way to the church. The way automatic transmission can save fuel is by preventing morons from driving like idiots. And there are quite a few of those. It is not about individual fuel consumption, but an on average thing.
And I think both your broken accelerator** and brake failure example, while both being true, are moot points. You don’t prevent those from happening and ending catastrophically by driving a manual transmission car, but by ensuring that your car is in a road-legal condition. It is your obligation as a driver to not take part in traffic with a rolling death machine.
Before you ask, I do drive stick shift and I prefer manual transmission, simply because it is more fun. I have to admit though that automatic transmission is a lot more comfortable in heavy and slow traffic or in the inner city were there are lots of traffic lights.
*The difference isn’t high though. Maybe a mile or two more per gallon.
**As for the stuck accelerator, you might just as hit the brakes hard enough. They provide enough resistance to kill the engine.
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Twice in 53 years is enormously long odds. If we begin to put people in jail for taking such tiny risks, then it logically follows that all smokers and drinkers should be jailed immediately. And professional athletes, too. And Doctors Without Borders.
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Are there that many automatic transmission cars available in Russia? I have never even seen one outside US, I don’t think.
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Russian cars are horrible, so almost everybody who drives has an American or maybe German car.
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Yes, I have been to many countries that do not make cars, and thus have American and other foreign cars … but do not have the automatic transmission. NB even in US automatic transmission is an add-on when you buy a car. It is cheaper to buy without.
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I’m planning to buy a car before May, and of course, I’m only looking for automatic. The easier the whole process is for me, the better.
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Automatic cars are harder to control. I am a little clumsy, so I don’t like that. But some automatic transmissions are better than others. Mazda for instance. Everyone likes Honda but I do not, as the current version of it has that floaty American suspension.
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I was learning to drive using N’s Mazda, actually. 🙂
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Manual is cheaper, but my friends who’ve bought them had to wait a long time as the dealerships didn’t have them in stock. I learned to drive manual one dreadful summer in Morgantown, West Virginia. When I went back a few years later (in an automatic car) my stomach STILL clenched at certain uphill intersections where I had stalled out on a regular basis. +1 for “easier is better.” 🙂
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You almost can’t get a stick shift car anymore. Almost all my cars have had them, though.
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I find it surprising this is news even in Russia. Both manual and automatic transmissions have been available in cars for over 100 years. Why didn’t they announce this “news” immediately after the communists took over rather than wait until now to put it on the “news”?
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The whole newscast was an exercise in identity-building. I find that very interesting.
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